


past comes back

by riverdanceeee



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura Lives Bitch, Gen, Happy Ending, Overthinking, Post S8, allura centric, altea, basically allura watches the tinkerbell movies and somehow is reminded of her own life, big family vibes only, by far my oddest tag yet, gratuitous love for the disneytoon tinkerbell movie franchise, tinkerbell and the legend of the neverbeast spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 13:31:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18095264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riverdanceeee/pseuds/riverdanceeee
Summary: In which Allura does some thinking because the moon is mean, she finds out her teammates love the Tinkerbell movies, and an old friend comes by with a surprise.





	past comes back

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this as a writer submission for the [stardust and spirits: a princess allura zine](https://stardustandspiritszine.tumblr.com/)! i didn't get chosen as a writer but didn't want to leave this finished piece hanging in my docs without showing it to others. the zine lineup looks absolutely FANTASTIC. i love all the artists and the writers chosen are extremely talented. please support their work as well, i love their writing and look up to them for inspiration and hope to be on par with them someday. please also support the zine if you can, all proceeds go to Black Girls Code and you'll get cute ass allura stuff too. i hope you all enjoy this little snippet of what our beloved allura deserved in my eyes.

******

Allura used to believe she was different from the paladins. She had good reason to—her, with pale teal crescents etched into her cheeks, with magical abilities at her fingertips, with an accent that seemed to emphasize her words in a much more fanciful way. Shiro informed her that the people on Earth don’t really live in castles anymore; perhaps a few royals here and there, but many are vacant and symbolize a past of injustice. Crowns are far more extravagant too, according to Pidge. Engraved with precious stones, sculpted in expensive metals and worn on the head rather than over the forehead.

The obvious was also taken into account: Allura isn’t human. Allura is an “alien,” as they like to call it, though a couple of the paladins envy the word. They prefer extra terrestrial—Lance broke out into song when Hunk said it—and chances are there’s something biologically different between her Altean body and their human one. After all the differences were laid out in front of her, she believed there was no way she could relate to the strangers living aboard her ship.

That was until today, in the dead of night, coddled up inside the Garrison’s sad excuse of a bedroom.

Allura’s noticed these past few weeks that any light reflecting off the metallic floors conjures doubtful thoughts. Much of it has been fear over losing the war and being unable to drive the Galra out from Earth, but as of recently, the team has been able to do so. Sendak and his armies were defeated. Though an enraged Honerva eliminated any reality in reach, Allura got through to her and begged her to remember the vibrancy and matchless beauty of life. Of remembering those we love, of giving our all to those we care about, of doing the most for those in need. It was an Altean way of life, something the people of her planet echoed through the streets and Allura’s mother reminded her of before she sang her to sleep. It was enough for Honerva to acknowledge her wrongdoings. Such emotion radiating from the two gave them the strength to revitalize the tarnished realities and bring upon warranted peace the universe needed. Honerva was able to live in a reality where her husband and son love her as much as she loves them.

And still, weeks later, Allura finds herself with doubtful thoughts again, but they’re not about the war. Her doubtful thoughts are about what she used to believe in: the differences between her and the team. These differences she’s pointed out over the years are only on the surface. They’re in no way tied to their shared feelings and goals. There are similarities Allura has failed to recognize until now.

One similarity between them is the longing for their home planet.

When the paladins first arrived at the Castle of Lions, they practically raved about Earth. Lance would not stop talking about the sandy beach and how the warm Varadero water would always be better than the icy American one. Hunk could mention one food—something as strange as “pigs in a blanket”—and everyone on the team would moan exaggeratedly. Shiro once mentioned a drama that was still airing on television and Pidge complained that, though he was gone for nearly two years, the show still hadn’t come back for a second season. Allura vividly remembers Keith reminiscing about the humid desert air with an affectionately sorrow voice and everyone else quietly agreeing with him.

And Allura? She could relate, but on a whole different scale.

After she had to remove her father’s AI from the Castle systems, she revisited Altea in her dreams. Plush green meadows beyond what the eye can see, fuschia juniberries sprouting in batches, mountain ranges that looked taller every year. Her waves of white hair soaked up the dew as she laid on the grass, trying to identify shapes out of the clouds. Growing up, there were always diplomats visiting the Castle, so the most extravagant of food was served and Allura would get a taste of every dish. She developed a mischievous habit of barging into meetings to prepare a plate of food and eat it back in her room. Despite the glares of annoyance directed at her from her parents, she loved to see the bitten-back smile they fought every time. She loved to see her parents happy together, hands often held tightly under the dinner table, her mother’s quiet demeanor balanced by her father’s wild one.

But even though she could somewhat relate, it was never the same. In the darkest corners of her mind, jealousy boiled in a cauldron. The paladins knew that even when uncertainty laced their thoughts like a virus, Earth would still be in place when they got back. Even when forces of evil broke through the atmosphere and crashed onto their beloved beaches and deserts, the ground they once walked would touch the soles of their shoes again.

Allura woke up and her home was gone. Only a ship remained. That’s gone too. There’s nothing left to remember her home by.

Coran told her she has every right to be angry. She has a right to wake up in the morning, remember that home is nothing but specs of dust in space, her people were brutally murdered for a selfish cause, and be absolutely  _ infuriated _ by the fact that she was too late. He wakes up similarly, but no jealousy bubbles around his thoughts.

“Why be jealous,” Coran had said earlier this morning, sipping a hot cup of tea as she ate breakfast, “when you can be happy your friends do not need to suffer the way we have?”

Of course Allura doesn’t want her friends to go through the pain of losing their home. On the castle, some would cry just at the thought of it, and Allura understood that feeling the way her body knows magic—rooted in the formation of her bones. All the people in the universe could turn their back on her and she would refuse to wish that kind of heartache on anyone.

The day Voltron arrived on Earth, the team rallied into position and fought tooth and nail for their home. Allura witnessed the people who yearned to return and the people who felt they had nothing to return to take the same risks for the dusty plateaus of their home. She watched hope disappear from their eyes with every blink and they continued to brave on. A black hole could swallow them whole, the moon could fall over the sun and blind the world, and  _ still  _ no one could take their home from them.

Another similarity between them is that she, too, would do anything to have her home still standing.

Time and time again, Allura wonders how she would fight for her planet to still exist. How she would easily fall back into the rhythm of her daily schedule. How, in between those missing ten thousand years, the Altean people would regard her as queen.

Allura  _ could _ live in any reality where Altea still exists. Chances are she wouldn’t be queen or princess, but she  _ could _ be among her people. Juniberry petals  _ could _ tangle themselves in her hair and all her white dresses  _ could _ be stained by grass. She  _ could _ speak her language again and everything about it  _ could _ be home _ , _ she  _ could _ be home _. _

But it would mean Allura would forget everything up to this point.

The friends she’s made along the way, the battles she’s won, the battles she’s lost, the scars she’s gained, the family she remembers—completely erased from her memory. Perhaps there’d be snippets that stayed the same, but  _ she _ would never be the same. A carbon copy of home is far away and maybe if she didn’t have to end the war her father helped cause, she’d go to it without a second guess. However, Allura would rather remember Altea in static memories and lively dreams than forget the people she’s come to love. Though the Castle of Lions is gone and she’ll have to float around space till she finds a place with all the essence she desires, she’d never chose to forget her journey.

Allura rises from bed to shut the blinds. Enough of the light reflecting off her floors—she needs to sleep, not think. The war is over and she deserves to rest. She could have easily gifted herself another ten thousand years of sleep in the four hours she should have been asleep, but the gleaming white moon kept her awake.

Perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing. Now her thoughts are organized and maybe, for once, Allura can tell her friends her deepest feelings. Not the mice she telepathically talks to, not the walls that encase her, but her friends she fought beside.

_ Tomorrow, _ she thinks as her eyelids slide shut.

 

******

 

Breakfast is noisy. When Allura was little, she’d have breakfast with her family on a grand marble table. They’d talk amongst themselves and, when she was done, she’d head off to her lessons. In the Castle of Lions, roaming space with five humans on deck, breakfast could range from the most obnoxious conversations to dead silence.

The Garrison dining hall is just plain noisy. There’s tons of people crowding into long tables, talking over one another until they have to yell to get the other person to hear and cackling into the air at such an ungodly hour.

Allura’s initiated food fights before, knows better than anyone the messy bliss of them, but here they must be accidental. When she was heading to her seat, the people in front of her slightly bumped into each other and an entire plate of eggs dropped to the floor. Keith was walking over to her and an invisible force knocked his drink over his tray. She has a gut feeling it isn’t only like this in the confines of the institution. It has to be an Earth thing.

Team Voltron is sitting at a round table, all clad in their plain orange and beige Garrison uniform. The pale yellow sunlight filters through the large windows behind them, making Hunk constantly squint his eyes and Pidge shift left and right for Keith’s figure to block it. 

“For some reason, Ms. Rodriguez was in my dream too,” Lance says across from her as he chews on his strangely shaped yellow fruit, “and only Hunk knows who that is, but whatever—point is, she gave me one of those golden star stickers that say ‘Great Job!’ as a gift for saving the universe.”

“It was so hard to get those,” Hunk groans, leaning back in his chair. “I cried because she wouldn’t even give me one on my birthday.”

Pidge looks between the two of them. “Who is Ms. Rodriguez?”

“Our middle school science teacher.”

“You cried because you didn’t get a sticker in middle school. On your birthday.”

“Yeah. And?”

Keith lowly chuckles as he sips his new cup of coffee, head hung low and face obscured by his midnight bangs. Shiro softly nudges his side, holding back a laugh too, and Coran unknowingly meddles his fork through the oatmeal he ordered. Allura watches them happily even though a fierce tug at her heart bothers her.

“But that’s all I remember from my dream,” Lance finishes. “I’m sure there’s more but the star sticker really stood out.”

“I had a dream that I was stuck in fields of gum,” Shiro says. Everyone quickly turns to look at him, a bit bewildered at the unlikely string of words exiting his mouth. “I’d try to walk but there was too much gum stuck to my shoe.”

“Shiro, my boy,” Coran mumbles through a mouth full of food. He extends his arm over the table to rest his hand on Shiro’s. “I don’t know what gum is, but a sticky ground sounds much like the planet Ziur. You dreamed of the planet Ziur! I’d take Allura a lot when she was little. Ziurians had special shoes everyone had to wear in order to safely travel the planet. The hem of Allura’s dress got stuck in a wad once and we had to cut the piece off. She cried an awful lot.”

“I don’t remember any Ziur,” Allura confesses. Coran seems disappointed, smile from telling Shiro about the planet now downturned. “How old was I?”

“I took you for years, at least until you were twelve or so.” Coran straightens up and removes his hand from Shiro’s. “I’m not sure how you can’t remember. You loved going to Ziur.”

Somewhere in between all the noise and accidents of the Garrison dining hall, Allura’s mind blanks until there’s only two words pulsing in the empty space.

_ You’re forgetting. _

How could she forget a planet she visited so often? How could she forget its ridiculously sticky ground? Her dress being cut? The years she spent going between Altea and Ziur? Her memory couldn’t be that bad. When she woke up from her slumber, she remembered her life. Ten thousand years couldn’t take that away from her, but a couple years fighting the war could. A couple years spent thinking of the future rather than remembering every piece of the past took Ziur away from Allura.

What more is missing from her mind? Has she truly remembered everything about Altea, or just the grass roots outside her castle? And how much time does she have left until she forgets that too?

“Did you have any funky dreams last night, Allura?” Lance’s voice breaks through her darkened thoughts. Her eyes flick up to him. The corner of his lips are raised on one side and she knows he’s trying, he’s  _ really _ trying to cheer her up in the most subtle way he can.

“I didn’t, actually,” she says light and airy, hoping to eradicate the suspense hanging above their heads. “I didn’t get much sleep.”

“Nightmare again?” Coran asks.

“No.” The first time she had a nightmare, Allura didn’t tell her friends thinking it was a one time thing. Then, they happened for a couple days straight and it began to affect her. Eventually, she told the team, and soon enough they disappeared. Allura hasn’t had a nightmare in some time now. Maybe because she doesn’t sleep. “No, I was just...thinking.”

Allura smiles, but it’s a rigid one. It doesn’t reach her eyes and it has her teammates looking between themselves, concerned for her well-being. A light pang reverberates through her chest. She said she’d tell them today, but maybe now is not the time. Procrastinating probably isn’t the best option, but the dining hall also isn’t the best setting.

“Do not worry about me,” she assures her friends. Though it doesn’t clear their conscious, they do seem a bit more relaxed. “I  _ did _ watch a fascinating movie the other day though. There were these little humans with wings on their backs and they lived in very secluded areas of pure nature. Each had a specific talent. It looked real, but I know it wasn’t. I was hoping one of you knew what I was talking about.”

Shiro hums, tone a bit playful. “It sounds familiar.”

“You sure it was a movie?” Pidge slices off a piece of her pancake and stuffs it in her mouth. “Sounds like a TV show.  _ Winx Club _ ?”

“ _ Winx Club _ doesn’t look real,” Lance objects as he drops his fork on the plate. He folds his hands together and concentrates on the ceiling. “Did they have little crowns on their head? And a human kid who wears pink?”

“What?  _ The Fairly OddParents  _ looks even  _ less _ real than  _ Winx Club _ !”

“Okay, but which is better?”

“I think I know which movie you’re talking about, Allura,” Shiro says, side-eyeing Keith beside him. When Keith looks at him, he groans in what must be embarrassment. “Keith used to watch it all the time in my dorm when he was little.”

“It’s a good movie!” Keith fights back. He lowers his head into the palms of his hands.

“Tell her, Keith.”

Keith sighs, lifts his head, and glances at Allura. She’s trying her best to hold back a laugh. “Blondie? Green dress?”

“Yes,” Allura confirms.

“ _ Tinkerbell. _ ”

Lance slams his fists down on the table, scaring everyone to pieces. “That movie is amazing! The whole franchise is amazing!” He dramatically points at Keith. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Kogane!”

Keith blinks. “Do I?”

“ _ Neverbeast _ made me cry,” Shiro confesses, heavily sighing and shaking his head. “Powerful movie.”

“ _ Pirate Fairy _ is superior though,” Hunk chimes in, giddy and excited. “The little croc is so cute.”

“ _ The Great Fairy Escape _ is the worst one,” Pidge states and crosses her arms. “Boring.”

Keith glowers at her, hand tightly grasping his coffee. “Take it back.”

“Boooooo,” Pidge hoots with her hand cupped around her lips. “Boooo Tinkerbell Three.  _ Secret of the Wings _ wins this battle.”

“Tinkerbell Three? Are you out of your mind?”

Lance stands up and raises his hands, queueing the table to silence. “Personally,  _ Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure _ outranks all of the movies and should be given the same amount of love and respect you have all given your respective faves.”

“There are multiple movies?” Allura asks. Now her interest has peaked. “I quite enjoyed the first one.”

“There are multiple movies,” Keith verifies, concealing a smile, “and the DVDs should be somewhere in Shiro’s room.”

“And we shall watch them tonight!” Lance announces, raising his arm high in the air and grinning at his friends. “Movie night in Shiro’s room!”

Shiro arcs an eyebrow up. Lance gradually lowers his arm.

“It’s ’cause you have a big room. Commander privilege and all.”

“Well, I’m delighted to watch whatever you younglings are speaking of!” Coran gleefully chimes, then stands up with Lance. “To Shiro’s room at dawn!”

Though Shiro rolls his eyes, his smile claims he’s feeling differently. Allura loves it when the team dynamic is alive and bustling like it is right now. Since the war ended, the moods have changed like the tides, but the happiest ones are always the most cherished.

However, if she wants to live them to their fullest extent, then she has to let her thoughts get off her chest.

“Wait,” Hunk says. He turns his body toward Allura and points at her. “You thought  _ Tinkerbell _ looked real?”

 

******

 

Turns out no one’s seen the Tinkerbell franchise in a while, but Keith can still quote the movies.

“I won’t see you again,” Keith silently repeats along with Fawn, sitting on the couch but leaning forward, eyes glued to the screen. “But I know you’ll always be there when I need you.”

Fawn cuddles closer against the Neverbeast and Allura sniffles. The final scene where the fairies have to let Gruff sleep is painful but drenched in love. The care they put into his new home is so touching, it has everyone shedding tears. This movie pulls at all her heartstrings for reasons she didn’t think a children’s movie ever would.

The Neverbeast wakes up to guard Pixie Hollow and is protected by a team of unlikely fairies. Together, they fight against a group of scouts that believe the animal is violent and out to obliterate them. It’s a story of friendship and fighting for the better good, and even though it’s about the same group of fairies she’s been watching for over five hours, she feels a strange connection with them.

“I love you, Gruff,” Fawn whispers against the beast’s nose. She pulls back and watches him close his eyes with a mix of love and sadness overtaking her. The movie ends and the credits roll.

Allura takes a deep, shaky breath. Clutching harder onto the pillow over her chest, she presses her lips tightly together and attempts to focus on the playful drawings on screen but the tears are pushing their way through, are being far more triumphant than any action her nerves tell her to perform. She leans back against the couch to steady herself.

Allura sobs.

Behind her, seated on the couch, Shiro pats her shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t worry, that’s the last one.”

“It’s a happy ending to a wonderful series!” Lance says, voice slightly choked. He has a fuzzy grey blanket draped over his head and takes up the chair to the left. “They should have made more movies.”

“Okay,  _ The Great Fairy Escape _ isn’t that bad!” Pidge admits beside Allura. She cranes her head back on the edge of the sofa to look up at Keith, who in return throws a piece of popcorn at her glasses.

Hunk hums along with the end credits song as he picks up the empty plates and leftover food scattered around Shiro’s living space. Allura continues to sob into her pillow, aware that a pair of piercing eyes are staring at her, but not sure whose it is.

“Allura, are you okay?” Coran asks. Everyone suddenly goes silent and all eyes are now on her, though she can’t see them through the haze of her tears. But the question makes her cry harder, makes her shoulders shake fiercely and the pillow muffle her torn voice.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Pidge says, immediately wrapping an arm around her shoulders and holding her close. Allura rests her head on her shoulder for support.

Within seconds, a space between Shiro and Keith opens up on the couch and she takes the spot, cries lowering into soft sniffs and her vision clearing up. The rest of the paladins huddle around. Coran kneels in front of her, encasing her right hand between his cold palms but creating the warmth she needs in the moment.

Allura said she’d tell them today. All her thoughts from the night before, evoked by the moonlight glistening off the metallic floors, would be voiced and pushed out of the way. Again, she wishes the circumstances were better—she’s crying because a fictional movie about fairies ended up hitting too close to home—but now is better than never, and the setting is much more appropriate. Her best friends are around her, lending love and support and empathy all at once.

“I used to believe we were very different,” Allura begins, hushed but sincere, rocky but solid. “I used to believe that, despite all the journeys endeavored and misery endured, we could never be similar. Perhaps because we are different species and we have lived different lives. I’m afraid it pained me to believe so because it only reiterated the fact that I could never relate to anything again. Not the way I used to. No Castle of Lions, no Alteans. I suppose the lions count, but they’re off somewhere else, somewhere we may never know. There’s nothing left of Altea except me and Coran.

“However, that isn’t true. We’re similar. I was thinking of how you all valiantly risked your lives for Earth because you love it to pieces. Your families, old and new, live here. You’ve watched the sun fall past many horizons but none quite feels like it does on Earth. And I, too, feel the same about Altea. If given the chance, I’d risk my life for the sake of Altea and its people. To see the juniberry flowers bloom in spring and roll through the meadows. Back then, when this all began, I wondered if I’d risk it all, but now I don’t have to ponder on it.

“You were all given the chance to save Earth and I—I was stuck in a cryopod. When I woke up, everything from my life was missing. Jealousy clouded my thoughts because you all still had time to save your planet and I didn’t. It was childish of me to think so negatively. I would never want any of you to experience what I did and that’s why I continued to save your home. Because I couldn’t save mine, but at least I could help save yours.”

Allura looks at Coran with a kind smile pulling her lips back. Though the movie behind him creates a white halo around his figure, darkening his facial features, she knows he’s smiling back at her. Coran holds her hand a little tighter.

“Like the Neverbeast,” she says through a laugh, “I had to wake up and help save the world. Now it’s my time to go back. I have to find a new home. It isn’t in another reality, for sure. Maybe it’s on Earth or maybe it’s on this Ziur I don’t remember, but it wherever it is—I’ve found it because you all helped me realize what home is. Home is the people I know. Home is my family in the stars, my friends across the universe, and the paladins whose immense courage shaped who I am today. We aren’t so different after all. So I thank you.”

Allura takes one last glance at her group of friends. Each of their eyes glisten the slightest bit. Some seem to be holding back, breathes steady but bodies rigid, and Allura wants them to say something,  _ anything.  _ They can laugh for all she cares, it would mean their muteness would end and this wouldn’t feel so odd.

Instead, Coran pulls her forward off the couch and envelopes her in a bear hug. Her cheeks squish against his chest and her knees hit the ground unwelcomingly, but she still wraps her arms around his torso and presses a smile against his shirt.

“You’re incredibly brave, Princess,” he whispers against her hair. “Home is not far away for us.”

Allura blinks away the tears building up and holds him closer. Coran always manages to say the right words, like his mind is fueled by a dictionary. Despite his foolish behavior and wacky jokes, he’s the wise man who knits the seven of them together. He’s the father figure that’s always stood beside Alfor and the last reminder of home. Through the years, they’ve been through thick and thin, shared their fears and doubts, and bonded like no other.

Another pair of arms clamor over her back, then another and another until everyone in the team has created a group hug around their prized princess. Their warmth blankets over her and she feels whole again, like she’s back at the Castle and they’re training together. Like they’ve just finished a tough mission and they’re lounging in the break room.

Like Allura’s home again.

“We’re here for you,” she hears Shiro say amongst them.

“And whenever you need something from us, we’ll be there as fast as we can,” Lance chimes in as well.

She contently hums at the reassurance she’s needed all along. The promise of her friends still being by her side, even when she moves galaxies away and communication may run dry. Why would she ever give this up for another reality?

“I’m here for you too,” Allura says to them, clenching her eyes shut as the last tear cascades down her face. “I will always be with you.”

Her cheeks warm, her smile grows, her heart fills to the rim and every nightmare, every darkened thought, the cauldron of jealousy—it all evaporates into thin air. Altea isn’t what relates her to others, it’s her experiences and relationships that do. The energy that formed Voltron helped create a new family for her to be a part of, and though she’ll part ways with them, they’ll still be as ever connected as they were the first time.

When Allura opens her eyes, teal light beams at the corner of her vision. Coran sees this too and pulls away from her, the rest of the team following in suit. She brings her fingertips to her Altean marks, feeling heat radiate through her skin. They haven’t glowed since she revitalized the destroyed realities with Honerva. She hasn’t used her magic since then either, so why are they glowing?

“Should we be concerned?” Pidge asks.

“I-I’m not sure,” Allura confesses. “I don’t know why they’re acting this way.”

The ground rumbles for a quick second, shocking the paladins, then a roar erupts in the vicinity. A strange but familiar sensation takes control of her body that instant. They all look between each other—they all feel it too—and immediately rise to their feet. Together, they run down the hall, bare feet smacking against the floor, until they’re greeted by a sky littered with stars.

Before them, shining as bright as the first time Allura laid eyes on her, is the Blue Lion. Her golden eyes sparkle against the night. She stands tall and enchanting, metal claws reflecting the moon like the floors in her room. The smile on Allura’s face can’t seem to stop growing if the cold desert air chilling her teeth is anything to go by.

Blue lowers her head and opens her mouth, cyan light emanating from deep in the center and subtly shading the team over. Allura looks over her shoulder to her friends. The breeze ruffles their hair and clothes back. Lance smiles as widely as Allura does, looking up at his old companion with sincere and happy longing. Pidge grins and playfully hits Hunk beside her, who covers his mouth with his hand in utter shock. Keith’s chaste smile lifts her hopes high and Shiro’s knowing glance at Allura gifts her comfort.

Coran steps in beside her and softly nudges her side. “Shall we?”

Allura nods. Tentative steps lead her up the staircase and into the same old hangar she conquered in battle. It’s dark and crowded with everyone there, but as soon as she takes a seat and holds the steer, the place comes to life. The walls brighten blue and the controls flash white. Each hologram becomes apparent and Blue stirs awake, connecting with Allura’s mind again and sharing every intimate feeling—euphoria, optimism, glee, ambition, and a tinge of panic. A tinge of panic because Allura’s unsure why Blue has come back to her. Is the universe in trouble once again? Does someone need their saving?

_ None of that, _ Blue ensures.

A childish laugh bubbles out of Allura and she slams the accelerator, diving high into the night and letting her lion take complete control of the wheel.

“Where do you think she’s taking us?” Lance asks behind the seat, glancing at all the gears of his past lion over her shoulder.

Allura looks back at him, then down at the ground. Her brows furrow together in concentration. “I don’t know. She hasn’t told me anything.”

Without her knowledge, Blue takes the team into hyperspace. Streaks of white and teal run against the lion, taking the ship to speeds Allura’s still surprised it can undergo, until Blue gradually slows down and the universe clears. They abruptly enter a new galaxy with a jolt.

Space welcomes them kindly. The same stars and comets burn viciously in the view she and her friends have grown accustomed to over the years. This time, though, there’s a glowing sphere in the distance.

“Do you see that?” Hunk asks, pointing at the brand new discovery. “What do you think that is?”

“It’s too big to be a star,” Shiro thinks aloud.

“Planet?” Keith suggests.

“Allura,” Coran whispers. She whips her head toward Coran and her eyes widen. His teal Altean marks glow as bright as her’s, so much so that it highlights his ginger hair. He looks out the window shield and smiles. “Allura, that’s Altea.”

Allura’s home comes into view.

Rings of decorative white encircle the planet, turning as slowly as the ten thousand years went by, and the blue of Altea’s oceans filter around the lands of light green. Its moon resides to the left of the planet, hardly visible to the eye. She doesn’t remember what her planet looked like from space, but now it’s starting to piece back together in her memories.

Altea is back.

Allura’s hand nervously grips at the control. She pushes forward. Tears well in her eyes and home is becoming as blurry as her memories but it’s only temporary because it’s  _ here, _ alive and spinning on its axis the way a planet does. The way her  _ home _ does.

Blue breaks through the atmosphere and lands in a meadow. There’s no Castle in sight, but the juniberries are sprouting. The skies are pale and the sun is bright and the mountains are high and the grass—oh, the grass, she  _ has _ to roll in it.

Allura’s zooming past her friends and out the mouth of her lion. As her toes meet wet, cold grass and her skin meets the warm winds from the mountains, the waterworks break loose. She runs to the patches of juniberries and crashes among the petals, relishing in the organic smell. Looking to the sky, the clouds clutter together in the form of a heart.

Her past has miraculously come back to her. Allura gets to keep her friends, memories, and scars. And if war breaks out, she’ll do everything again, but for now? There’s no need to worry.

“I’m home,” she whispers to Altea.

**Author's Note:**

> hello it is 10:50pm on a tuesday night, i'm reorganizing my docs, found this, and decided to post. it's short, i like it,,,,,,and there is no shipping content that's right fellas i didn't go klance on this one! all for the baddest bitch in town princess allura my fucking b a b . y. also a huge thank you to gaurangi for beta-ing this and several other things....u r my hero and i love u
> 
> if you liked this, please feel free to leave kudos and/or comments and check out my other works! i'm really bad at replying to comments bc i get nervous tbh but i'll definitely try! 
> 
> school's kicking my ass a bit and it's college rejection/acceptance season _which is also making me nervous_ but i promise i'm writing....i'm applying to more zines and have ideas running loose, but i will post soon!
> 
> follow me on my social(s)!  
> twitter: [@Ianwngjis](https://twitter.com/Ianwngjis)


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